Electrical energy conversion device



F I P85 8 2 X R 3 y 3 '55 w 289 g 8, 1967 R. P. KIDWELL 3,335,289

ELECTRICAL ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICE Original Filed May 17, 1961 1??INVEN TOR.

ROBERT P. Knowsu.

Anvs.

United States Patent 3,335,289 ELECTRICAL ENERGY CONVERSION DEVICERobert P. Kidwell, 2213 Calle de Suenos, Las Cruces, N. Mex. 88001Original application May 17, 1961, Ser. No. 110,777, now Patent No.3,219,851, dated Nov. 23, 1965. Divided and this application Apr. 3,1963, Ser. No. 270,228

Claims. (Cl. 307-72) This application is a division of application Ser.No. 110,777, filed May 17, 1961 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,851.

The present invention relates to electrical devices for convertingelectrical energy at one frequency to direct current and/or current atother frequencies and for converting electrical to mechanical energy ormechanical to electrical energy.

The present invention deals with electromagnetic fields interacting withconductive mediums to provide efiicient conversion of electrical energyat one frequency to alternating current of twice this frequency and/orto direct current. The main advantages of the invention lie in the highdegree of flexibility, efiiciency, simplicity, and ruggedness of theequipment constituting the present invention.

The various advantages broadly described above are accomplished in thepresent invention through the mutual interaction of orthogonally relatedalternating magnetic and electric fields operated at the same frequencyand displaced in phase by approximately 90, and a me 'um acted on by thefields. Although orthogonally related magnetic and electric fields havebeen heretofore used in various ways for various applications, none havebeen alternating fields phased and used in the manner to be described.

In the most preferred form of the present invention, a conduit isprovided comprising a pair of opposed conductive walls forming a pair ofelectric field developing electrodes and joined by a pair of insulatingwalls. An alternating current electric field is developed between theconductive walls by applying a suitable alternating current voltagethereto at a given frequency. The magnetic field is generated within theconduit at right angles to the electric field by placing the conduit inan air gap of a C- shaped core of magnetic material forming the core ofa transformer. In a preferred manner to be described, alternatingcurrent is fed to windings of the transformer to provide an alternatingmagnetic field which is displaced 90 in phase from the aforesaidelectric field. A force is developed within both dielectric orconductive materials in the conduit.

The medium acted upon by the cross alternating electrical and magneticfields of the present invention is a solid conductive body. It has beendiscovered that by anchoring such a conductive body to the walls of theaforesaid conduit in the region of the crossed electric and magneticfields in a manner where the conductive body is insulated from theconductive walls of the conduit, useful electrical energy can beobtained by coupling an output circuit across the ends of the conductivebody. The electrical energy comprises a direct current component and analternating current component at twice the frequency of the alternatingelectric and magnetic fields. Both the direct current and alternatingcurrent energy components can be extracted from the output circuit bysuitable filters.

Other advantages and features of the present invention will becomeapparent upon making reference to the specification to follow, theclaims and the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a device for converting an alternating current of a primaryenergizing voltage source to either direct current or alternatingcurrent at twice the frequency of the energizing voltage;

FIG. 2 is a transverse section of FIG. 1 taken along section line 22therealong; and

3,335,289 Patented Aug. 8, 1967 ice FIG. 3 is a simplified electricaldiagram of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

Referring now and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the apparatusthere shown includes a conduit generally indicated by reference numeral2 having upper and lower conductive walls 2a-2a made of metal or othersuitable material and spaced insulating side walls 2b-2b bridging thecorresponding longitudinal marginal portions of the Conductive walls 2aand 2a. Conduit 2 forms a fluidtight passageway. A pair of conductors4-4 are respectfully connected to the conductive walls 2a and 2a of theconduit.

The conduit 2 is placed in the air gap 7 of a C-shaped core 6 ofmagnetic material. The spaced confronting surfaces of the core 6defining the margins of the air gap engage or are contiguous to theinsulating side walls 2b-2b' of the conduit 2. Windings 8 are woundaround the core and the ends of the windings are connected to conductors10-10.

Alternating voltages of proper phase appear on or are fed to theconductors 4-4 and 10-10 leading to the conductive walls 2a-2a' andwindings 8 to produce orthogonally phased crossed electric and magneticfields. Voltages are either externally or internally generated toproduce an alternating electric field extending between the conductivewalls 2a-2a" and an alternating magnetic field at right angles to theelectric field. The phase of the magnetic field lags or leads the phaseof the alternating electric field by about so that the two fields areorthogonally related in both a physical as well as a time sense.

The conductive walls 2a and 2a, in effect, form the plates of acapacitor which are coupled by conductors 15-15 in parallel to thewindings 8 which constitute an inductance coil. A tuning capacitor 17 isconnected between the conductors 4 and 4 for tunin-g the parallelci-rcuit to resonance.

The invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a system for convertingalternating current to direct current and an alternating current attwice the frequency of the alternating current. The source ofalternating current is a generator 23 coupled through the primary andsecondary winding of a transformer 19 to the resonant circuit includingthe capacitor 17. The conductive medium in the conduit 2 is a conductivemetal bar 30 which is fixedly mounted within the conduit by means ofscrews 32 passing through the insulating walls 211 and 2b. The conductive body 30 is spaced from the conductive plates 2a and 2a so as tobe insulated therefrom. A pair of conductors 34-34 are soldered orotherwise electrically connected to the opposite ends of the conductivebar 30'. These conductors extend to an output circuit generallyindicated by reference numeral 37. The output circuit 37 shown comprisesa first branch including an AC filter choke 39 in series with a loadresistor 41. The other branch comprises a DC filter capacitor 43 inseries with a load resistor 44.

The operation of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is as follows: Thegenerator 23 and the associated resonant circuitry provide crossedorthogonally phased and related electric and magnetic fields. Since theconductive body 30 is permanently anchored to the conduit, it does notuse any of the generated energy. However, it can be shown thatelectrical signals are induced within the conductive bar 30 which haveboth direct current and double frequency signal components. These twocomponents can be separated out by means of the output circuit 37. Thefilter choke 39 filters out the alternating current component from thisbranch circuit so that substantially pure direct current voltage appearsacross the load resistor 41. In the other branch circuit, the capacitor43 filters out any direct current component from the load resistor 44 sothat a double frequency signal component appears across the resistor 44.Obviously one or both of these branches may be utilized depending uponwhether DC or AC or both of the signal components are desired.

It should be understood that numerous modifications may be made of thepreferred forms of the invention described above without deviating fromthe broader aspects of the invention. What I claim as new and desire toprotect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Electrical converter apparatus comprising: a solid conductive body, apair of conductive electrodes on opposite sides of said conductive bodyand insulated therefrom, means feeding an alternating voltage to saidelectrodes for providing an alternating electric field at a givenfrequency between said electrodes, means anchoring said conductive bodyagainst relative movement with respect to said electrodes, electromagnetmeans comprising a coil positioned to pass a magnetic field through saidconductive body in the region of said electric field and at right anglesthereto, means feeding an alternating current at a given frequencythrough said coil to provide a magnetic field in the region between saidelectrodes which has a phase displaced in time by 90 from the phase ofthe electric field extending at right angles thereto, and an outputcircuit coupled between the ends of said conductive body for withdrawingdirect current and/ or alternating current therefrom induced into saidconductive body.

2. Electrical converter apparatus comprising: a solid conductive body, apair of conductive electrodes on opposite sides of said conductive bodyand insulated therefrom, means feeding an alternating voltage to saidelectrodes for providing an alternating electric field at a givenfrequency between said electrodes, means anchoring said conductive bodyagainst relative movement with respect to said electrodes, electromagnetmeans comprising a coil positioned to pass a magnetic field through saidconductive body in the region of said electric field and at right anglesthereto, means feeding an alternating current at a given frequencythrough said coil to provide a magnetic field in the region between saidelectrodes which has a phase displaced in time by 90 from the phase ofthe electric field extending at right angles thereto, and an outputcircuit coupled between the ends of said conductive body, said outputcircuit comprising an alternating current extracting branch forextracting a voltage at twice said frequency and having direct currentfiltering means in series with a load impedance.

3. Electrical converter apparatus comprising: a solid conductive body, apair of conductive electrodes on opposite sides of said conductive bodyand insulated therefrom, means feeding an alternating voltage to saidelectrodes for providing an alternating electric field at a givenfrequency between said electrodes, means anchoring said conductive bodyagainst relative movement with respect to said electrodes, electromagnetmeans comprising a coil positioned to pass a magnetic field through saidconductive body in the region of said electric field and at right anglesthereto, means feeding an alternating current at a given frequencythrough said coil to provide a magnetic field in the region between saidelectrodes which has a phase displaced in time by from the phase of theelectric field extending at right angles thereto, and an output circuitcoupled between the ends of said conductive body, said output circuitcomprising a direct current extracting branch having an alternatingcurrent filtering means in series with an output load impedance.

4. Electric converter appartus comprising: a solid conductive body, apair of conductive electrodes on opposite sides of said conductive bodyand insulated therefrom, means anchoring said conductive body againstrelative movement with respect to said electrodes, electromagnet meanscomprising a coil positioned to pass a magnetic field through saidconductive body at right angles to a line extending between saidelectrodes, means connecting said electrodes and said coil in parallelcircuit relation where they form part of a parallel resonant circuit,tuning means for adjusting the resonant frequency of said parallelresonant circuit, a source of alternating current at a frequency towhich the parallel resonant circuit is to be tuned, said source beingconnected to said parallel resonant circuit, and a circuit coupledbetween the ends of said conductive body.

5. Electric converter apparatus comprising: a solid conductive body, apair of conductive electrodes on opposite sides of said conductive bodyand insulated therefrom, means anchoring said conductive body againstrelative movement with respect to said electrodes, electromagnet meanscomprising a coil positioned to pass a magnetic field through saidconductive body at right angles to a line extending between saidelectrodes, means conmeeting said electrodes and said coil in parallelcircuit relation where they form part of a parallel resonant circuit,tuning means for adjusting the resonant frequency of said parallelresonant circuit, a source of alternating current at a frequency towhich the parallel resonant circuit is to be tuned, said source beingconnected to said parallel resonant circuit, and an output circuitcoupled between the ends of said conductive body for coupling an inducedsignal from the ends of said conductive body.

No references cited.

MILLTON O. HIRSHFIELD, Primary Examiner.

G. GOLDBERG, D. X. SLINEY, Assistant Examiners.

1. ELECTRICAL CONVERTER APPARATUS COMPRISING: A SOLID CONDUCTIVE BODY, APAIR OF CONDUCTIVE ELECTRODES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID CONDUCTIVE BODYAND INSULATED THEREFROM, MEANS FEEDING AN ALTERNATING VOLTAGE TO SAIDELECTRODES FOR PROVIDING AN ALTERNATING ELECTRIC FIELD AT A GIVENFREQUENCY BETWEEN SAID ELECTRODES, MEANS ANCHORING SAID CONDUCTIVE BODYAGAINST REALTIVE MOVEMENT WITH RESPECT TO SAID ELECTRODES, ELECTROMAGNETMEANS COMPRISING A COIL POSITIONED TO PASS A MAGNETIC FIELD THROUGH SAIDCONDUCTIVE BODY IN THE REGION OF SAID ELECTRIC FIELD AND AT RIGHT ANGLESTHERETO, MEANS FEEDING AN ALTERNATING CURRENT AT A GIVEN FREQUENCYTHROUGH SAID COIL TO PROVIDE A MAGNETIC FIELD IN THE REGION BETWEEN SAIDELECTRODES WHICH HAS A PHASE DISPLACED IN TIME BY 90* FROM THE PHASE OFTHE ELECTRIC FIELD EXTENDING AT RIGHT ANGLES THERETO, AND AN OUTPUTCIRCUIT COUPLED BETWEEN THE ENDS OF SAID CONDUCTIVE BODY FOR WITHDRAWINGDIRECT CURRENT AND/OR ALTERNATING CURRENT THEREFROM INDUCED INTO SAIDCONDUCTIVE BODY.